Nadal Rough Ups Federer in French Open Semi Final
The Spaniard Cruised Through 6-3 6-4 6-2 to make his 12th Roland Garros Final
Rafael Nadal is through to his 12th Roland Garros final with a sweeping 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 over Roger Federer on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The Spaniard improved to 6-0 against his longtime rival in Paris and coped with the swirling winds to progress in two hours and 25 minutes.
Federer, bidding to make the final on his first appearance on the clay since 2016, never got a complete handle on the conditions and although he had some moments of success, Nadal was too strong and too consistent from the baseline to be ever really be troubled.
Quick Match Recap
Federer won the toss and chose sides. Nadal chose to serve. With Nadal serving into the wind, Roger fashioned a break point in the opening game, but a good serve saved it and Nadal held.
With the wind swirling, Roger slipped to 15-40, and despite making deuce with a slick serve and volley, he was broken.
Nadal consolidated to love, but after Roger held to 15, he was back in the mix, breaking back when a Nadal backhand sailed long.
However, he wasn’t able to get back on level terms, and after saving five break points in a marathon game, he shanked the sixth as Nadal broke for 4-2.
The Spaniard then consolidated for 5-2. A love hold put the pressure back on him to serve it out, but he obliged, saving a break point to take it 6-3 to get off to the perfect start.
Into set two and Roger kicked off with a hold to thirty and then got himself front with a break for 2-0 using the wind to his advantage.
Serving downwind, the Swiss looked in prime position to consolidate, but Nadal hit straight back, converting his third break point after Roger had recovered to hold a game point after being down 15-40.
The pair then exchanged back to back holds with neither fashioning a break point but at 4-4 Nadal made his move, winning four straight points from 0-40 to break and he served out the set to love to put one foot in the final.
Nadal doesn’t lose many matches on clay, and he certainly doesn’t lose them when two sets up so when he went up an early break to lead 2-1, the match was all but over. Federer knew it too, launching a ball into the stands in frustration.
Nadal held, then broke again for 5-1 and although Roger avoided the breadstick, there was no stopping Nadal as he moved into the final with ease.
Match Stats
| Roger Federer | Rafael Nadal | |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 3 | 3 |
| Double Faults | 1 | 1 |
| 1st Serve | 55/93 (59%) | 72/88 (81%) |
| 1st Serve Points Won | 34/55 (61%) | 49/72 (68%) |
| 2nd Serve Points Won | 15/38 (39%) | 9/16 (56%) |
| Net Points Won | 17/35 (48%) | 9/20 (45%) |
| Break Points Converted | 2/4 (50%) | 6/16 (37%) |
| Return Points Won | 30/88 (35%) | 44/93 (48%) |
| Winners | 25 | 33 |
| Unforced Errors | 34 | 19 |
| Total Points Won | 79 | 102 |
Highlights
Thoughts on the Match
Yeah, so, I don’t know what I could have done a whole lot different, you know. Does it take my serve out of play a little bit maybe also? It just slows things down as well there. With the toss being all over the place, you’ve got to go for a bit more safety, and that’s just maybe enough for him to get more second serves. I don’t know. Or if I make the first serve, it’s just not – I can’t get the rhythm going, you know. You have that. But again, I don’t think I played poorly in the wind today. It’s just it’s tough on clay. You know, you’ve got to try to take on the half volleys, too, all that stuff. It just adds to the equation. He’s the best clay-court player, so I can accept that. It’s not a problem. Federer on his loss to Nadal
I’m a bit late posting this as for the first time in a while I wasn’t able to watch. I did see the entire first set and the first couple of games of set two and have since caught up with the replay so here are my thoughts 🙂
First off, the weather killed the match as the wind prevented either player from producing their highest level of tennis. So from that standpoint, I picked a good one to miss!
I kept reading on Twitter beforehand that cold, damp conditions were going to favour Federer. But that never made sense to me. Federer’s only chance against Nadal is to keep points short and penetrate the court to get on top in the rallies. Cooler, heavier balls stop that dead as he doesn’t hit big enough to negate it.
Combine that with the swirling winds when you need to play a style of tennis that has fine margins, and it’s going to be an uphill battle. The wind is a complete equaliser, and invariably steady tennis will win the day. However, you can’t play steady tennis against Nadal as he’ll eat you alive with his style of play, spin and intensity.
From Roger’s side, I thought he played ok but he was ultimately on the receiving end of a beatdown. The first set was close and he did well to break back, but overall the numbers are all in favour of Rafa, he served better, hit more winners, won 48% return points which is too high and won 23 more points in the match which is a big difference. Nadal did exactly what he needed to do; his natural game is high margin, low risk and he handled the conditions better.
Like Roger said in the press conference the regret will be the second set as the third game was a real chance to make a match of things. Dropping serve there was a huge moment, as was the thirty all point at 4-3 as Nadal escaped that game after Roger was starting to string a few shots together then he broke from 0-40 to kill the match.
I thought it was a great tournament. I really enjoyed it. Crowd support couldn’t have been better. Maybe one of the best ever in my entire 20-year career that I have been on tour at a Slam. ‘Them always being there for me, supporting me in practice, at the matches, on the grounds whenever I came and showed up, they were always happy to see me. So that was nice. In terms of playing, I think I played really, actually, well. You know, I think I surprised myself maybe how deep I got in this tournament and how well I actually was able to play throughout. And next year, just like with any other tournament, I don’t know. We’ll see what happens. But I definitely enjoyed the clay court season and the French Open, so that would help the chances, I guess, to return to the clay. It’s not like it’s been a shocker, you know. So from that standpoint, it’s okay. Federer on the French Open as a whole
Anyway, despite the one-sided loss, Federer has to look back on the French Open as a success. He’s made the semi-finals of a tournament he’d not competed at since 2015 and more importantly, will feel he’s well prepared for Wimbledon physically. I think he would have taken that when he decided to play the clay season at the end of last year.
What did you guys think of the match? Let me know in the comments.
First!
🥇
Go Roger!!!
Let the grass season begin!!!
Concur!
Second.
Third, correction😀
Sad but relieved. Thanks for your posts Jonathan. Unto grass..
Cheers.
Fourth ☹️
5th🥺
Thanks for the quick and good write up. Even though it was a comprehensive win by Nadal, Fed did not embarrass himself. Hopefully this makes him stronger and more competitive for the grass and HC season.
Thanks,. For sure it wasn’t a total carve up. Close for 1.75 sets really.
Tough match today, second set at 4-3 was pivotal but Rafa was just too good. Fed looks very good physically which bodes well for post Wimbledon too with the slow US open courts. I think Fed will be expecting the final at Wimbledon as minimum this year, playing and moving well and playing the big points on his own serve well in previous rounds should give him plenty of confidence to play freely at Halle and Wimbledon. Bring it on
1 point and 1 match at a time 😀
No expectations but slightly disappointing given he blew a chance at 4-3 in the 2nd set and choked the 40-0 at 4-4. I reckon the 2nd set should have been his. I actually did predict the match to go 6-4 6-3 6-2 so I was close 🙂
Good prediction you Aussie gambler.
Unfortunately, this was the worst outcome. I had hoped he would either win in three ( but I knew that was unlikely) or make it really competitive and lose in five. However, when I saw the conditions, I lost all expectation of a win. Remember that US semi against Berdych? Totally agree with Jonathan’s conclusions. Still, it was a great tournament till that point. Now for Wimbledon!
The Murray Berdych match in the USO Semifinals? Yes I remember that. The same story for Berdych, flat hitter, low margin, can’t keep it in court.
USOpen transformed to sauna within a single day!
AOpen felt like Dante’s Inferno!
RG was/is; literally sandstorms under thunderstorms!
Wimbi hopefully won’t be a swamp, because I’m bloody going!!!
Americn’s are so screwed up, not to participate at the:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol
Isn’t that just another completely flawed concept that exempts half the world from doing the same as everyone else? India, China etc can get away whatever as they’re ‘developing’ lol.
Yes. Kyoto was not workable.
Fed should have at least won a set. Create some doubts in Nadal’s mind. Will help when they meet later this year; Wimbledon or US open
Hm I think in sunnier conditions, he can take it 4 sets. Needs the first set though to have any chance.
I only sneaked the live stream on the mobile phone in a very few pieces, including the break back in set #1. For the very little I saw, it seemed that with more persistence, stamina and guts, Fed might very well have won this. But the physical and mental cost of that could be too much for someone at his age, his game style and, especially, with nothing left to prove (except that each victory means that we get to watch one more match! – excluding the final)
I think that at a point Fed just decided that it was just not worth stretching the band much more.
Anyway, he broke Nadal 2 times in 3 sets in the middle of a Fujita 5 tornado, which is not that bad now, is it?
That’s sport, dudes. Enjoy it.
“For the very little I saw, it seemed that with more persistence, stamina and guts, Fed might very well have won this.“ Yes, I am sure you saw very little. Roger got absolutely destroyed.
Oh why don’t you just go away.There are many Vamos brigade sites where I am sure you
Will be very welcome.
We really do not need you to tell us how great Nadal is.
Pablo’s mother, the whore famous all over Espana, gave poor Pablo’s cojones no love. He has seen no happiness in life. He comes to this site to satiate his emotional need to glory hunt and denigrate the fans who hate his one true love, Nadal. He could very well be with his fellow cock-sucking Nadal fans but no, that is not enough for him, In fact that is not even remotely close to enough. I mean, what good is the joy of a Nadal win when all you can do is celebrate in a gay pile with his fellow fans, and guzzling down protein shake all day, right? No fun! So, he visits this web site to belittle rival fans.
FUCK YOU, PABLO! YOU SICK SON OF A SPANISH SLUT!
Nope, there’s no such thing as “destruction“ in sports. In war, yes.
But if you prefer to have it that way, or want to get personal about this, then by all means do. Just don’t expect to get much echo.
PS: quoting other people and placing pejorative comments after is inelegant, to say the least. I appreciate that you don’t repeat that.
You got a wrong blog Pablo. This blog is for greatest player of all time, not the greatest puller of pants out of his ass. So, please, move away from this blog.
Well put, Rui. What value is he bringing? All he talks about is how great Nadal is, how he is the greatest clay court player, how the stats are stacked against Federer and how he owns him (on clay). I mean, we fucking know all that already. For fucks sake, say something that is different. Like you said, all he is doing is taking others comments, showing his disapproval and how wrong they are. What the fuck?
I am now convinced that this guy is sick and needs help. Of course there isn’t help he is going to get wherever he lives or whoever he is surrounded with. They all are most likely similar sick fucks. Perhaps commenting on this blog makes his life miserable? Maybe if he doesn’t let it out here he might go drink himself or shoot himself to death? What the fuck is he possibly gaining by trying to prove himself right? All he is doing is ending up disrupting the fun we are having here. Nobody said that the comments here need to be intelligent. If they are emotional, and said out of love for Federer, then they can say whatever they want and I’ll read them and I’ll enjoy them. Why does this sick fuck have to interrupt everyone?
Christ!
Calm down calm down. Tranquilo.
Pablo is a Nadal fan first, Federer fan second. Whereas the blog is primarily Federer fans. Nobody second 🙂
Senor Jonathan, por favor, nobody is questioning his right to be a fan of Nadal, nor is anyone saying that just go way. I/we are saying, just be calm about Federer fan comments. He doesn’t have to respond to any comments that even remotely makes Federer look better than Nadal (on clay – because he is better than Nadal everywhere else).
If he calms down with his responses, I will. He has better places and better ways to celebrate Nadal wins.
When Federer retires, I could not care less if you turn this into a Nadal blog, that’s your right. I won’t be here if and when that happens. But until then, let;’s keep this a predominantly, and overwhelmingly Federer blog, if that’s not too much to ask.
When you see some of the replays it’s a wonder that any balls
landed in court. We all know Nadal on clay is a hard nut to
crack so congrats to him. I applaud Fed for managing to
get as far as he did. But the conditions that they were
playing in was just horrific a match to forget it doesn’t
matter that it was FED/NAD, it was bad enough watching
it so I’m sorry for the players, a body of work blown away.
Despite of the weather they produced some amazing points (specially Rafa).
Yeah watching was hard, it would have been even worse to play in. If this was a practice, they’d have binned it off I think and gone indoors.
Great write-up despite missing half of the match which was rare of you, Jonathan! Excellent analysis, it’s exactly what I wanted to hear from you so I feel grateful and better. So thanks.
Thought he played pretty well for the first 2sets with some chances so I briefly hoped even for a win. But Rafa was just too good throughout so that I remembered a gif ‘What it’s like when you play Nadal on Clay’ on your old post with gifs ‘A day as a Federer fan 🤣
I know, first match I’ve not watched in a long time. Can’t remember the last one I actually missed tbh.
Haha that gif post. It was ahead of it’s time 😆
The conditions were awful.There is one picture of Fed and he looks as though he is in the middle of a swirling fog.
What a poor tournament this has been.
No roof,no lights,no Hawkeye,etc.
Well done to the players In the midst of all this mayhem,that they carried on and played.
Don’t how what happened in the other semi,but if Djoker was not happy with conditions,I agree with him.
Do the players have a say when the weather does not allow them to play properly? I don’t know the ATP rules about it; I mean: can they overrule an umpire’s position?
There must be also some pressure from the audience. I’m yet to see a match interrupted well into the twilight without a displeased choir of boooos from the spectators. In RG, at least…
I don’t know the rules too, but it looks like they hadn’t. After 2:5 in first set Djoker called an official to the court (ATP supervisor?) and apparently wanted the match to be stopped. But the official was short in rejecting the request.
I don’t think they do, and they shouldn’t. Player power is not a good thing.
Djoker was the only guy who complained like he did. I guess he was making excuses for his terrible first set (he didn’t do that in the second unsurprisingly).
As I wrote before, I see this positive, because they were assumed to play tennis out there (just like Fedal). Even being Thiem’s fan and maybe Thiem had a momentum after having broken in third set and could eventually confirm the break before the match was halted. I’m sure, Thiem will not complain and I’m not complaining either.
Conditions were even worse. Wind was still rising. They both were not happy about conditions and I’m only wondering, why the hell Djoker did not offer Dominic at the very beginning to request to play the match next day. Djoker’s position would allow this. Thiem is too shy, after which he called it a day. y and humble and never complaining, Well, they are 1:1 and Djoker down a break in the third, after which Djoker called it a day. At least they can forget first 2 sets and play a 3-setter today under normal conditions.
The wind was about 30 kmh (more in gusts) during Fedal match and about 50 kmh (more in gusts) durcíng Djokothiem 🙁
Players can’t just change the schedule and say let’s play tomorrow. Staff, ticketing, tv coverage etc.
Why does nobody mention it’s been a poor tournament until Fed loses lol. It’s been nothing but great up until the semis as far as I’ve read.
Now, that I can agree with. Had Federer won, it would’ve been hailed as the best French Open ever…ever! But it can still qualify as a great tournament should Domi take out Nadal (ain’t gonna happen though) 🙂
I thought the only decent match earlyish on was Wawrinka/Tsitsipas? Certainly I haven’t seen a lot really worth watching.
What you said, Jonathan. I was hoping it would be a tighter match, but can’t say I’m stunned it wasn’t, particularly with the conditions. Agree that on balance, playing clay has probably made him more match fit than last year, so that’s a good thing.
Interested to see if his theory of taking full swings on clay helps stop pushing the ball on grass too.
Yes! I noticed that when he said it, but had forgotten already, so thanks for the reminder.
Shitty weather never have this match a proper chance. Nadals safety play was always going to prevail. Dull.
I am so pleased for Fed’s tourney, and he has played so well over the 2 weeks, coming thru physically sound so onwards to grass
Ps What a farce of a slam RG is tho. Need not go into details as it’s all been discussed to death
Great write ups as usual Jon and let’s slay on grass
It was a great tournament for Fed. Kept match tough this clay swing, let’s see if helps him on grass.
Gave not have 🤭🤭
What a shit tournament! It doesn’t even have the prestigious vibe of some of the mAster 1000 let alone a slam. Yet the sweating dull is able to win it a dozen times to inflate his overachieved career. I’m of course sad for Roger’s loss but not disappointed with his run on the dirt. He’s achieved more than fans expected. Who’d have thought he’d make it all the way to semis and receive dignitly another beat down from the bull?
Hahah Fed loses and now RG is a joke tournament 😛
Actually, it was a joke tournament way before Fed lost – remember all the criticism about scheduling, disrespect to certain players, etc.? Actually, I thought you said as much?
Yes nicely put Susie and yes no need to rehash RG limitations . Onwards and upwards with Roger, Roger , Roger ringing in your ears, truly heartwarming ! Thanks everyone for your input, fun and shared Roger times !
Should RG be downgraded?
And upgrade Basel to GS status
Go Domi and may your SHBH & gutsy persistence reward you. Allez!
BAMOS.
Roger didnt play poor..he got great game,solid game for me.. its judt that the condition made him many missed shot.
Funny the australian open was more hurtful than this one..go get the last 2GS roge4!!!
Of course, losing 4th Round is worse than making SF at a slam you have missed for 3 years!
It was a disgrace, the wind ruined to whole match, distorted everything.
Federer should have ran away like Djokovic did, it was unplayable. Playing the gentleman card doesn’t work these days, in another day he was up to a contest for the match.
It’s the same for both players.
No, it isn’t. Federer had to attack since the start, otherwise he’ll lose. With wind, you can’t aim to the lines, you can’t be agressive, you can’t expect anything. So, he was doomed since the start.
The iwind was the same for both players but it tilted the balance even more into Nadal’s favor, as if it wasn’t heavily tilted. Let’s make a list…
Weakest surface
Weakest tournament
Small margin on shots in heavy winds
Service accuracy/spor serving in heavy winds
Near impossible volleying productively in heavy winds (forget overheads)
Facing a lefty after 5 right handed players, and not just any lefty
Playing after 3 years on the surface
…against an 11 time champion who hasn’t missed that tournament
….and who has won, what, about 65% of his titles on clay?
….and 11 of his 17 slams at RG (soon to be 12 our of 18).
I mean, there is zero reason I have of being disappointed with the semi final appearance.
Not bad tournament Roger may be can do better if the weather is good , but Nadal is very strong in clay so I think nadal still win in the end but not 3-0 set
Wait for Halle
I think going into the match any playing conditions that can add some unpredictability should help the underdog. Actually when he was asked about his chances against Rafa he said “you never know what can happen…” and he mentioned a variety of unfrequent events that could happen and might help him. At the end of the day Rafa is much better on clay with wind, sun, rain, fog, etc etc.
I always know Nadal is better than Roger in clay and strong in all condition just want to see more tight match not one way match
I just have to say that watching Roger play Rafa on a clay court always has a certain inevitability about it. Yes, Roger had chances and perhaps could have won the second set, but would it really have made a difference in the end? I doubt it. I play quite a bit of tennis myself, and watching what happened to Roger today (yesterday now I guess) is just like watching a superior player dismantle his game. There’s nothing more to say about it, Roger did nearly everything right tactically I felt, some glorious neo-backhand 2017 AO style winners, good use of the S&V on occasion. The first two sets felt a bit closer than the 6-3, 6-4 scoreline, but in order to beat Rafa at the French Open a lot needs to go right. I would say Roger played a decent to good match, maybe 7/10 or something, but against Rafa you’ve got to be pushing 9/10 for a whole match, and even then you need Rafa to be below par, maybe 4/10 or 5/10. Santoro summed it up best doing the commentary for ITV4, he said something along the lines of: “If it is not perfect, the point is for Rafa. If it is perfect, sometimes the point is still for Rafa.” those two games at 4-3 and 4-4 in the second set I think Roger would have won against anyone else, including Djokovic, Thiem, Wawrinka etc. Sometimes you just have to accept that it is too good. Roger couldn’t have done much more, sought out a decent left hander (Moutet) to practice with, played aggressively when he could, but sometimes that isn’t enough. Again referring back to playing tennis myself, a couple of weeks ago I took a serious beating (6-1 6-0) to a far superior player in a tournament. I played as aggressively as I could, hit a few flashy winners, but overall there was just no stopping the guy I was playing. Obviously Roger’s match wasn’t as big a beatdown as that, but it had that same sense of inevitability. When Roger failed to break at 4-3 up in the 2nd set, I called it right there that the match was over.
Anyway, the match was fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, being a realist I never expected Roger to win or come particularly close (though I thought he might nick a set). Rafa beating Roger at the French Open is just expected. Would be nice to see Thiem win the tournament especially after the fiasco where the match was suspended despite sunny weather which continued for about another hour, and Thiem’s momentum has been broken. However knowing Novak’s luck, Thiem will come out flat tomorrow and will quickly lose in four sets, though I’d like to be proven wrong.
Finally of course we have grass season coming up, and if he can defend Halle Roger has a great shot at the #2 seeding, and therefore if he gets lucky might have a golden ticket to the final. Would be great to see another Wimbledon win, but as I’ve said in numerous previous posts, anything after the AO 2017 win is just adding another cherry to the ridiculous cake-mountain of titles Roger has racked up over the years.
Agree with all of this
Nice, Charlie. Well said.
Yes only disappointment is missed chances. With little bit different play may be would have turned sets 1 and 2 in his favour. I didn’t watch the match. Any idea why the 1st Serve% went below 60?? No way he can win against Djoker and Nadal with that stat. And you gave 4 stars to returning and 3 stars to serve, little strange 🙂
I think in normal conditions, he can take it 4 sets based on level and how Nadal was playing.
Fed still had wonderful shots and returns in strong style. He fought bravely against wind and mists of clay. There were very entertaining and brilliant rallies. The tennis gods although favoured Nadal who played excellent.
A very hard match, I guess.
Hm wasn’t a bad match. Had a few chances, Maybe in different conditions he pushes it to 4.
Oh well the whole load of rubbish is nearly over now and the grass season beckons.
I would like to salute the bravery of Roger Federer who comes out to play in atrocious conditions against the strongest clay court player on his favourite court.Not so long since Indian Wells and the same player retired because of an untimely ‘injury’.😉
Brave for playing in the wind. Switch over to some of the D-Day stuff when you get chance 🙂
Don’t understand the point you are making.
My point was not just about playing in the wind but facing Nadal on his home turf and
the surface that suits his slow grinding game.With Nadals higher net clearance in
swirling wind he was going to win whatever.
I was messing, but my point was the word brave doesn’t apply to a guy playing a tennis match.
I get your point Jonathan, you are witty. Annie, don’t be too sensitive.
Was Roger afraid of playing Zverev at Rome?
Tsitsipas…
Proud of Roger to make the semis here. It shows what a great clay court player he is. And yes he lost to Nadal but that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Djoker should be ashamed of himself. His behavior was once again awful on the court. You have to deal with the conditions like everyone else. No wonder nobody likes him. He will never be the legend Rafa and Roger are.
I completely missed the Djoker stuff, catching up with it now.
Somebody knows, what happens when the match is interrupted and continued another day? Do they start with coin toss again? (I believe to have seen they do)? If so, is this about serving/receiving and choosing court side or only court side?
Thank you
Don’t they just continue from the side they were supposed to be on? It’s all logged in the scores
Would be logic, but … not all ATP rules are logic 😉 Well, I will know in less than 1 hour 🙂
Nothing changes. When they return, it’s as it it was simply a continuation, except the warm up that is given.
Roger Federer 2019 until now :
Melbourne 🇦🇺: R16
Dubai 🇦🇪: 🏆 (#RF100)
Indian Wells 🇺🇸: Finalist
Miami 🇺🇸: 🏆
Madrid 🇪🇸: QF
Rome 🇮🇹: QF
Paris 🇫🇷: SF
He is 37 and 10 m. years old. Waow ! Enjoy, guys, enjoy.
Have a good rest, Roger, and thank you.
Stealing this for my Twitter 😀
Actually, I’m guessing you got it from Twitter as well haha. Full circle tweet theft.
Not bad at all, @ 37 with that level, amazing. Simply the #GOAT
Shamtoot? Shamtoot El Nadal?
Yes Sid, himself 🙂
miss you man 😉
Aftermath like today, we need humour and laugh! Any new PT fan, laugh out this epic post from 2012.
Not a lot has changed, though! Watch out Pablo, No.15 😆
https://www.perfect-tennis.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-roger-federer-fan/
😆 yes, wonderful, good to repeat once in a while, thank you Wanda, and Jonathan!
That’s a good one Wanda hahaha. But trust me, it is possible to be fan of both (maybe not at the same level)
17 to 19 are pure gold
22 to 24 will kill me one day
and 15 is priceless 🙂
haha, yes, agree here too! But Rog, although still playing like a god’s angel, is still human…
I remember saving this to my desktop favs.
Gutted, really gutted. Roger really deserves to win RG. I really thought he had this. But unfortunately.
But… there is always next year. And yes, I do believe that he will be back. If this is how far he came at RG after not being there for 3 years with so many young and good players… this is not the end for him at RG.
But for now… he is healthy and now we are going for Wimby 2019, USO 2019 and AO 2020.
Yep… I believe in my 38 years old Goat kicking youngsters ass who are old enough to be his sons 🙂
I am sooooooooooo proud of Roger that I cannot express that enough. At his age he should be someone’s coach or a commie or going to programs to talk about the game and field or just enjoy his life outside of tennis.
But no… he is still playing at a high level, going far in tours, winning tours and the most important thing… he is fighting, not giving it up or not giving it for free. If someone beats him, he makes them work for it.
For that alone I love him. He means so much to me, this hurts. I want him to win sooo badly because he deserves it sooooo badly. Like I said gutted. But proud of him. Hope he takes this as a positive that he can still beat the young and old and that he uses this for other tours. Because he will win again.
Agree completely Katyani, Rog’s really strong enough. And in a way strange that Rafa all of a sudden is super fit here at RG. But still maybe not, RG is his super priority, of the whole year, or even life so far, I guess. Rog had some incredible returns, he really still is MAESTRO, and in good form too. Just the tennis gods teased him this time. Maybe to let him still be hungry, and give it some more years.
quoted “I am sooooooooooo proud of Roger” who is not Katyani? even the rivals’ fans should appreciate what Roger is doing and that is why I’ll be rooting for him comes Wimbledon even if he is to face Nadal 😉
Go Roger
If Thiem wins today I hope he wins RG. Kind of deserves it after the stuff at RG.
If Djoko wins… then I am going for the lesser of the two evils… then Rafa should win, even if that means 18…
Thiem hasn’t made his life easy. He probably should’ve won in four, even though he was down the first break in set four, but some enormous cuts at neutral and advantageous balls (including on approach to open court…just direct the ball, jeez) led to donated points and blown chances. And that hugely exaggerated slice has got to go. Nonsense.
Awesome tournament, nice to see Fed enjoying the clay again. It was inspiring really, in a way even touching, watching Roger give the immortal god of clay a good fight for over 2 sets. Seriously close to 1 set all and then anything can happen. If Rafa is not fit for next year’s RG and Roger is, he should definitely go for it again as I feel he could have taken Nole/Thiem in the final.
The grass will be fun!
Thiem is absolute horseshit. He is total and complete garbage. Two match points, the very first ball he gets back on each of them is a wildly cut slice that nets and sails. Then, overhits huge on the next and dumps the next. How he beat Fed or anyone really is remarkable. Total lack of professionalism and judgment.
Oh the no 4 and RG finalist for the second year in a row is garbage. How disrespectful that is.
His play at the tail end of the set was 50 percent terrible and you know it. An in form novak, rafa or fed wouldve smoked him. You cant miss as many opportunities as thiem did and expect to win against the best. Credit the victory and ability to stay strong mentally, but his tennis failed him in the clutch. This was a good deal of luck.
Thiem has been one of the Top 4 players of the season so far.
So Halle has a new name – the Noventi Open.
Yuck.
Halle should be upgraded to GS status and remove the terrible RG please.
Now you’ve mentioned a thing I’m very sensitive to! I am strongly against changing the name of buildings, events etc. according to the name of the company that “bought” it. A name belongs to the collective memory by which everyone refers to those things. Changing it has the immediate consequence that everyone will refer to it by “the thing that we used to know by X”. Then the company Y sells it to Z and “the thing that we used to know by Y and that some older folks remember as X now will be respond by the name Z”. Ridiculous. Try changing the value of a primary key in a database record and wait for all sorts of problems…
(And don’t even get me started on the obnoxious trend to call “arena” to all sorts of precincts)
I don’t mind it, nobody really uses the sponsor naming for it. Nobody calls St James Park the Sports Direct Arena. And I don’t think many people will use Gerry Weber Open, it’s Halle for ease. It’s not called the BNP Paribas Open either, Indian Wells is the term everyone uses.
The only time it flops is when the tournament / arena begins life with a sponsor name. So Bolton Wanderers, for example, played at the Reebok Stadium from the day it first openend. Everyone used that name. Now it’s the Bolton University Stadium or something. The same would happen to the Emirates or the Etihad if they ever part ways.
Did Gerry Weber go bust, or something? I know there were problems …
Finally! Why do this to yourself, such bad spots, win on serve man! You get lucky here but you can’t win slams without being able to close on serve. Djokovic and nadal will make you pay big as Fed well knows.
You’re right. Thiem has no chance of beating Nadal here if he can’t close matches on his own serve.
I think he got distracted by the lollipop paint job of the Pure Strike!
Does it really mean, if he can close matches on opponents serve? He won the third and the fifth set today against Novak’s serve.
I would like (because of my nerves) to have him close out matches on his serve but its just him. It’s almost typical scenario for him, to lose the advantage of 1 break say while serving at 5:4, then he wins at 5:5 and breaks again to win 7’5. Or similar.
He is mentally stronger when on return (many players are like this) and in TB’s it’s so often to exchange many breaks before one of them closes.
I don’t see playing against Nadal to be very specific in this aspect.
I give Thiem a chance to win tomorrow. Hes stamina are great, his endurance, physical and mental (good job of his new fitness coach Cordero) too. He has shots, which Nadal does not like at all, he has beaten all Greats at least once on big stage this year. Why not tomorrow? So far he beat Rafa mainly on faster courts, like Madrid or Rome (slower but still faster than Paris). Paris remains and Thiem will be more aggressive tomorrow than he was last year, aiming to not lose badly. not even thinking, he could win. This will be different tomorrow, whatever the outcome.
PRF I would be surprise if Thiem takes one set. His BH won’t be able to deal with Nadal’s FH. I expect a match similar to last year’s final.
@Pablo
I don’t know the future. What I know is, nobody gave Thiem slight chances to defeat Djokovic. And he did. Nobody gives now Thiem chances to defeat Rafa. Let’s see and think right now, what will you say, if Thiem wins.
Thiem is another player compared with 2018. Rafa is still great, but he is quite the same. That’s the difference.
Of course – Rafa had an easy draw and didn’t have to play 4 days in a row and today will be fifth day without a day of rest.
We have a saying in Poland “don’t put the carriage before the horse”. 😉
Let’s wait with comments after the match is over.
PRF I thought Thiem could beat Novak, he actually had done it already. I just find very difficult to imagine someone beating Rafa in that court in a final and specially with a one handed BH.
@PABLO
You are completely right, but you talk about history. History does not help much (at least in sports) to predict the future.
Barcelona was also tabú until this year. Barcelona is similar to Paris. This year Rafa lost to Thiem in straights. It’s not the same as earlier wins in Madrid or Rome.
If Thiem could win 2 sets in Barcelona, why not 3 in Paris?
I guess the match will be closer than 2018 if Thiem will not pay physically for his hard way to the final.
Bu I think, we should stop this discussion – users of this forumare Federer’s lovers, not Nadal’s or Thiem’s 😉
I talk about their current level of tennis. RG is not Barcelona and I was not impress with Thiem’s level against Nole. Djoker played pretty bad and still could perfectly win. Based on current forms I believe Nadal can play way way better than Thiem on clay.
PRF I’m shocked with the high level of tennis we are watching.
Fed didn’t play too badly the first and second set but perhaps he made bad UE’s and the wind limited his serve.
Anyways, let’s proceed to the grass season and try to Wimbledon.
Note : Thiem is on the final, the hiring of a certain Nicolas Massu has proved to be a very good choice.
Very happy for Thiem. Well deserved !
i hope he can win this time we need new one to win slam
Very nice indeed! Agree with you, to get Thiem the champion this time..he has a chance!.
@birdy
Would you say the same for Wimbledon? Do we need someone young to win Wimbledon? 😉
Yeas – Bresnik built bis base, fitness, endurance, shots. Massú evidently puts in more focus on variety, shot selection, gameplans. He gives Thiem confidence and the feeling of a coach playing” with him, while sitting in the player’s box, while Bresnik was sitting out there not looking to be interested, what going out there. Cordero sdded better footwerk, speed and acceleration.
Yes, I agree, this was good move.
Let’s go Thiem !
The atrocious conditions put paid to any chances Roger might have had. I thought he could have at least taken a set.
It is interesting that until Rome the Spaniard hadn’t won a tournament since Toronto last year – about 9 or 10 months. Quite a drought. And nothing even on clay till Rome. But here he is again, as regular as the cycle of Spring itself, looking unbeatable and about to claim his 12th French title. Like clockwork, he always peaks at Paris in June. What was I saying about cycles, again …
On a different note, it was a breathe of fresh air having two ladies on a final who don’t just hammer the ball forwards and backwards, especially Ashleigh Barty, who has a very nice repertoire of shots and is not afraid to use them. Vondrusova got overwhelmed by the occasion and never laid down her game.
Barty is a nice champion!
And she didn’t run around the court jumping and screeching like, like… hum…
And she plays silently and celebrates the points won discreetly… No grunting? No yelling at the umpire? Not bullying the line judges? No drama queen acting? Sorry. She does not have the traces of a “champion”…😆
To be brave comes in different forms.
Obviously no one is comparing ,’some guy playing a tennis match’ with war heroes!
Yea, agree. I consider most of the time Roger quite brave in his matches, and no less yesterday, with waves of flying sand and opposing storm in the sails, and the Rafa in super fit form.
Thank you Muser.
RG certainly has become a soap opera. Roger winning a set is what most of us thought would happen. With a warm sunny day or a roof the playing field is more even. I don’t feel too “gutted” as I can do. It doesn’t feel like such a bad loss. Roger seems happy with his FO showing so like we say every year, on to the grass season.
Tennis must have the most passionate fans of any sport. Most of us here are genuine Fed fans. Some here like to argue about everything and anything. Some like to push other peoples buttons big time. Others are respectful, quiet fans that don’t post too often and probably are afraid to at times.
Such a thoughtful response.
Couldn’t agree more.
The tedium that is clay makes it a completely different sport from the rest of the game that is tennis. I would be quite happy if it disappeared altogether from the tennis calendar, or was designated a different sport – like beach volleyball, or marathons run through the desert. It’s only purpose I can see is to inflate the ridiculously one-sided resume of its chief Spanish proponent – who would like the whole year to be on the stuff. They say “grass is for cows”, but why would anyone want to play the beautiful sport of tennis on an unfinished building site? A typically Continental folly. Sacre bleu.
Saw something this week that clay courts were apparently invented by an Englishman, because grass courts couldn’t take the beating they got in Mediterranean heat. Interesting.
This wasn’t the article I saw, but essentially the same info:
http://info-provence.com/en/article/the-first-clay-court-tennis-invented-in-cannes/
Yes,it is an awful bore and I have been saying this since the whole thing began,certainly not since
Fed lost.The only decent match was Warwinka /Tsispas.
No lights,crap scheduling,no Hawkeye,no roof.
Cannot agree, just because , at least in Europe, the traditional, classic tennis surface is just clay. Ask Federer, where on which surface he did grow up.
The most unnatural (those Yankee inventions – everything of cement and/or plastic ;)) surface is cement. There were times, when grass was the dominant surface also in US. Now it’s cement or … cement.
Cement is not even good to build houses . Wood is a natural material for this and if you live some years in a wooden house, you will never want to live in cement.
But I guess it’s all about Nadal “stealing” slams Federer. Take out Nadal and clay will be beautiful again 🙂
I agree completely PRF. Clay is the most popular and traditional surface, at least in Europe. Many experts say is the best one as it helps you develop a more well rounded game and another very important point is that is the best for the health of the players.
For me it is the most interesting surface. It allows longer rallies, a greater variety of strokes and a more controlled game for players.RG was always my favourite tournament since the days of Courier, Bruguera and specially Kuerten.
The “only” problem I see with clay is that the ball slows down too much at bounce and tend to make point building useless. “Faster” clay is a lot better. I like carpet too. Never tried grass (even with seasoning, haha). Other than that it’s much more comfortable and safer than any hard court (I have sprained my right foot a few times on hard courts; yeah, I must practice the foot work a lot more!)
Really sad to see Roger lose in such a bad match up against Nadal in the worst conditions for him to create an upset. I think both played some great shots given the ridiculous conditions. I cannot believe Nadal could serve over 80% with such swirling winds. Oh well, it was a much better showing by Roger here than expected. I am glad that Thiem won today and hope he can win tomorrow as well. Time of the next gen to win something before they become past gen.
To be honest I don’t think you should feel sad.I think Fed achieved what he and his team set out to do.Lots of match practise,clay polnts,confidence going into the grass season.
Unfortunate that he had to meet Nadal,but that was always going to happen because of his
ridiculously easy draw.
Good luck to Thiem tomorrow.
To be honest I guess most of us here feel somewhat annoyed or sad every time Roger doesn’t win, me too. But I also think we can agree in his brilliant benefits most of the times, this one no less.
I think, this was very fortunate and maybe even “planned” (draws are manipulated, aren’t they?) just because it was Federer’s wish to play Nadal on clay once more. And i guess, Roger is happy with this and didn’t really expect to win and is not disappointed with a loss.
Oh he was disappointed, you could tell from his mimic and the shot of frustration up in the audience. Be realistic. We are emotional humans, wanting (our heros) to win. The challenge comes from handling it all, not from putting it somewhere in the shadow.
Agree – I expect the same to happen in all slams, not only where Federer does not play at all or loses 😉
I just want the best players to win. If the next gen can reach the level needed to beat the best ways I don’t care if they don’t get even one GS. They need to earn it.
Thiem has certainly earned a grand slam more than other players who’ve played in finals. Just because Rafa acts like a non-human it doesn’t mean that Thiem hasn’t earned a grand slam.
Guys, I was super impressed with the level of play Fed showed in the firs two sets, especially the 2nd up to 4-4 , 40-0, when he miseed a first serve badly and slightly laughed, then he lost the concentaration at 40-15 I was really scared of what might happen, and sadly it did shortly after.
But until game 9 of second set the statistics were incredibly tight between the two, 2-3 points only in favour of Nadal overall.
Nadal barely missed, but so did Fed especially in the second set with the backend super steady in my humble opinion. I was pretty impressed with how Federer played against such a brutal adversary. I would have loved a set won, but overall Nadal played his A game.
The wind make it worst probably for Federer, he couldn’t capitalize on his serve, and he didn’t serve impressively either.
I have high hopes for Wimbledon now.
Can Thiem somehow bring his A+++ game after so much time spent on court? Very hard, but I hope he will be super aggressive.
Agree, nicely put, arno, only our wishes for Thiem (and Fed) didn’t come true.
The final going as expected. A player who has won only one tournament in 10 months charging tirelessly towards his 12th slam in the most demanding of surfaces. Every year the same predictable pattern – he can lose to anyone throughout the year and not win a tournament for months but he is transformed for two weeks in June. He cycles better than the winner of the The Tour de France.
You are absolutely right. I really don’t know what is going on here. Rafa is getting older but somehow on this surface in the best of five he can just stroll through the tournament standing 10m behind the baseline. Obviously he is a special human being but even he has a limit.
What an amazing performance by Rafa and Dominic. Kudos to Thiem but Rafa is absolutely unbeatable, he increased his level on the third set and that was too much to handle. This was his 118 victory out of 120 matches on clay best of 5, his 12th RG (twice as more as Bjorn Borg, crazy) and his 18th GS. Historic, the gap closes and Rafa is one of the main favorites at Wimbledon.
Hold on, Thiem was running out of gas after the second set.
Due to Dopovic’s unsportmanship on friday refusing to continue to play and leaving the tournament towards his hotel they had to finish yesterday. These 2:45 hours of tournament tennis one day before a best-of-five final vs Rafa were just too much…
Think about what we all knew and what we could have seen n court yesterday. What’s your explanation? Completely rested and recovered Nadal plays Thiem, who had to work hard 4 days in a row before any rest before the final. To give fair chances to both, tthey should have moved the final to Monday. The spectacle would be a ot better, whoever the winner.
Thiem did wellmin 2 sets, running on reserve and then suddenly the tank was empty. Not a big deal for Rafa (or anyone) to beat someone who can barely walk.
I believe Thiem is one of the fittest guy on the tour and I did not see him tired at all. He did play 2 days in a row against Novak but 2 hours each so it should not be a big deal for a strong 25 years old guy. Thiem gifted the first break and then Rafa raised his level winning how many? 14 out of the 15 first points of the set?
@Pablo
No, Thiom did play 3 days in a row and the final was the fourth.
Thiem may be fittest guy on tour, but imagine the opposite situation and think if Rafa could invent something against Thiem having before normal days of rest like Nadal did, so Thiem could start the first set with “Barcelona” and win both first sets and still have energy to continue the same style.
But I understand, being Rafa fan you prefer to exploit theories about Thiem’s unlimited fitness. Move on – it’s history.
I have seen Rafa and Roger playing at their absolut best after playing brutal 5 setters in the previous rounds. Rafa called it perfectly on the press conference “He is 25” and I may add that if he is no capable to perform after 3 days playing 2 hours each (like a M1000) he will never get a GS.
In other words there was no outstanding tennis from Rafa in set 3& 4. It looked outstanding as Thiem was flat, slow and without energy.
How can one expect a player to beat Djokovic in two days and Nadal on the third? On clay? On the tournament where Nadal invests all his preparation and effort?
The serious answer: A bit of relativization is due here…
The playful answer: put your tongue out, sway it fast left to right and roll both your eyes in opposite directions. Add dissonant chords with a xylophone.
Those scars from previous clay losses must have created some form psychological block against Nadal. Though all of us were hopefully that Roger can keep his winning streak alive alas it was not meant to be. Clay court, crazy wind and damp conditions not exactly ideal for Roger to muster a W against king of clay.
I feel sad for Thiem, he got handed a situation where he has almost empty in his tank on Sunday. If weather didn’t play so much of havoc, I strongly believe he would have stand a decent change to push it for 5 sets. Winning the 2nd took so much, totally went blank in the 3rd and 4th set. Nadal is one lucky fella to win a dozen RG. This is insane record but I am getting very bored watching same fella lifting Coup De Musketeer year after year.
Thanks Dippy, Rui, DrEvil, PRF and others. Now I have a good picture I think, of the reason behind the 2 sticks. Pity.
Dippy I don’t know if you watched the match but the winning the 2nd set didn’t take that much. The first set was crazy intense and in the second they both took a step down and were winning very easily every serve (they lost only 5 points each on serve).
Then Nadal regrouped and the rest is history. I mentioned that several times here and did not understand how people could have any hope of him loosing…. When Nadal is playing well he is so much better on the beautiful clay than the second best player that it is like looking a man playing against kids (118-2 on clay 5 setters).
You are talking history, Pablo. It’s no more truth. It’s Rafa’s second title this year (after Thiem played him dead in New York 2018, losing only by an unlucky shot). And probably last this year, while Thiem will recover and have chances for more. He is no more clay-only player.
History is important. When you have a guy who won 12 times under any type of circunstances you just don’t bet against him (specially vs a guy who never won any GS) in the Finals. And this also applies to Roger at W and Nole at the AO.
If Roger gets to the W final and plays against a guy who never won a GS, I won’t bet against him. History teaches good lessons.
As for Thiem, he has defeated Nadal often enough to not feel blocked.
Nadal`s greatness on clay, especially in Paris aside, it looked for me like this.
Thiem knew, given his 3 days before, he will be not ready to go for 5 sets. Still he needed first to see, how his body reacts. That’s why he didn’t start to play “Barcelona”, so in first set Nadal was closer to the baseline. Even if Thiem was still hitting and moving well and has broken first, saving energy resulted (I’m not blaming him or Massú, whoever set the strategy. resulted in losing it (by losing a set9:
Then he switched to “Barcelona” in second set and reverted positions. He was most of the time inside the court and Nadal pushed back, resulting in winning the set.
I have read pundits like Craig O’Shannessy, “proving”, it was Nadal who flipped the scrip in 3. set. But since then Nadal could have played with right hand and this would change nothing. Thiem was physically dead What a game and strategy do you need against an empty court?
Mr. O’Sh.. meant, Thiem lost mental energy because of Rafa switching to another gear.
Hard to understand, why should a player who just found the right game and won to level a match, lose the mental energy. Normally it’s the moment of regaining momentum and you start next set big.
But even before Nadal could have shown his “new strategy” (Thiem was serving first), Thiem lost his service game, barely walking and making 4 UE’s in a row. As Nadal noticed, Thiem is absent on the court, he started to fire winners from every position. But this was shooting against absent opponent and nothing could change anymore.
Sorry for this long post, but some of you showed some interest in this match and I watched it twice.
We have seen this with Rafa over and over again and specially on clay, guys can’t deal with him for a long period of time. How a guy can be playng “Barcelona” tennis at the end of the 2nd set and 2 minutes later he is gassed?
If you are saying that Thiem was saving his energy in the first set I don’t know what match you saw as both players and experts highlighted the brutal phisicallity and intense these two players were putting on. Not to mention how stupid that strategy would be.
“As for Thiem, he has defeated Nadal often enough to not feel blocked” This is a GS final against The King of Clay, this is not Barcelona or Madrid. This is Nadal vs Thiem at RG: Nadal against Thiem lifetime at Roland Garros: 6-2, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, 6-0, 6-4, 6-3, 6-0, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
Bottom line: Thiem is not even in the same stratosphere as Nadal.
I’m happy with this clay season.
Last year Roger played sub par grass season, especially from Halle on, and continued to a sub-sub-par summer.
Yeah, I know, the hand injury derailed his confidence. But there was more than that.
Now I hope the extra work and practice will pay dividends to his game in the remaining slams of the season.
The other positive is the quality of the field and younger opposition finally presents itself.
Yeah, Rafa and Novak won most of the big titles again, but both got some beatings from younger opponents during this season.
Both needed lady luck on their side in order to win – easy draws, tired opponents, supportive conditions – and looked more human than ever.
They are not going to be younger next year…
If I remember correctly Nadal and Nole got the AO final without loosing a set (Nole won it in straight sets) and Rafa just won RG loosing 2 sets. If that’s luck I don’t know what I would not be.
If I were you I would try to get used to them because they aren’t going away any time soon.
In Madrid, Nole got an easy draw, a walkover and then two tired opponents after beating Roger/Rafa.
In Rome, Rafa lost a set to a tired Nole in the finals. Last year the rain delays were there for him whenever his opponent got some rhythm.
In RG Rafa got a ridiculous draw until the SF (it was ridiculous on paper! even before it broke apart and even before Nishikori had to play a long match that took two days to finish), favourable conditions in the SF and a tired opponent in the finals.
They are well into their 30s. How long they can deny younger players? another year? another two years?
You are also wrong about the AO.
I believe Nadal didn’t lose a set, but Djokovic lost one to Shapo and another one to Medvedev. Wasn’t impressive at all until he raised his level in the final two matches. Also had Pouille in the semis…
I’m sorry Schmeltz. It sounds a bit ridiculous to me to say that this year’s sucess of two guys who combine for 33 GS and 67 M1000 was luck. It is easy to point out here and there tournaments with more or less difficult draws but that applies to everyone (look at Roger’s #20: He beat Fucsovics, Berdych, Hung (retired) and Cilic),
Nadal is purely a product of this era; by that I mean strings/rackets and homogenization of surfaces. Talented as he might be, it’s unlikely he could dominate without the insane spin virtue of modern equipment and the slow surfaces the game is played upon these days. Then there is the elephant in the room: i) his athleticism defies logic since he has incredible power, stamina and speed, features that are linked by trade-offs (it’s like a boxer could win 100m sprints and marathons), ii) his many “injuries” never take a toll and he comes back stronger every time. All other tennis players and athletes in general need time to reach their optimum after an injury but this doesn’t apply to Nadal (remember 2013 when he was killing everyone after a long hiatus) and iii) he has never dominated the post-US open stretch. It’s really hard to fathom why he hasn’t won anything important and esp the ATP finals that have become high-bouncing and slow recently.
“All other tennis players and athletes in general need time to reach their optimum after an injury but this doesn’t apply to Nadal (remember 2013 when he was killing everyone after a long hiatus)”. I wonder how Roger could win the AO and W in 2017 at age 35 after just coming back from an injury. Does your theory apply to him as well?
Roger has comeback from an injury break once in his career. With Nadal it is a routine; he has made a soap opera of it.
Well quite frankly the whole conversation is ridiculous. Can we seriously shut up about who is the best and why and why not and blah blah blah? Putting forward hackneyed arguments which all cancel each other out?
Sure I follow Fed and prefer his game and rejoice in his titles and achievements. But that doesn’t mean I need to downgrade the success of any other good tennis players and as for arguing with people who don’t like Fed, I can’t be bothered. And really this shouldn’t be what the blog is about. Its boring, and annoying.
Thanks, Tennisfan and YES.
I agree Tennisfan. It is unbelievable the amount of ridiculous theories some people create just to try to downgrade Nadal’s or Djoker’s achievements.
Payback time coming up in South-West London 19 baby. #21
Sorry Fedfans for adding this last post to this debate. I have no other way to tell it Pablo and some of you, who were involved in the discussion about the RG final.
=========================================================================
@PABLO
You have many good arguments and I’m not so bad informed to now know it before.
But there is one thing, yóu probably don’t know about Thiem and it could have an impact on the final match.
FITNESS and HEALTH is not the same. Thiem is one of fittest on tour or maybe the fittest. This is not so with his health. He is since very young prone to virus infections, which may come from him being a late maturer (it’s about biology and hormones, I don’t mean here “late bloomer”, like Stan was called for example).
Thiem started the year (preseason on Tenerife in December) with heavy virus infection and there is were he gets his basic fitness for the whole year. Not yet healthy, he went to Doha and Mubadala, losing everything there. He was ill. In AO he could practice well and has cancelled some minutes after started his practice with Stan. He stopped to practice for some days and then did play (and won) 4 hours match against Paire. He had pulse about 200 all over the match (his normal pulse during hard practice or the match is around 50. Next match was against Popyrin and he was forced to retire after first set. He was too ill.
Then he went back to Vienna, was scheduled to play DavisCup against Chile (positive side effect – Massú) but needed to cancel. His first appearance on court was Buenos Aires and he was still not healthy and lost first round in Rio.
Then they went early with Massú and his new fitness coach Duglas Cordero to Indian Wells to have about 2 weeks of getting healthy enough to train hard over one week and this was turning point – ended with the Indian Wells title.
Than it was still up and down – Miami lost first round. MC – loss in third round, then title in Barcelona and SF in Madrid, losing after epic match to Djokovic, again lost first round in Rome. So his body was probably still fighting with the virus. And then RG – he was finally fit and well prepared. With a bit of rust in first two matches, but then everything fine until the Djokovic match in cold, wind and rain (much heavier at the first day than Nadal had in his quite easy an short Federer match.
It’s only my guess (because Thiem never tells in the public about his health if it’s not obvious. When withdrawing from AO he justified it with fatigue (maybe not knowing at this time, his virus was active again), but there are enough facts to think, this guess has 99% probability.
After 2 days of Djoker match in quite adverse conditions the virus was there again.
Many have noticed, he was breathing hard since the third set. I have seen this coming since the beginning of the match.
You say hard words about Thie3m’s missing ability to win slams a.s.o. Take into account, one of reasons of what you call “missing ability” are health’s problems. Maybe he will have to live with this vulnerability all over his career. Maybe he matures biologically and some year the problem is over.
I don’t blame you for not knowing that. Only few know.
PRF I just can talk based on what I was able to see. To me Thiem looked very well phisically and that was not the reason why he lost this final. Indeed I believe that he never had any chance with Rafa performing at this best or close to his best.
Regarding the virus he might have got affected before the tournament or in the first couple of rounds but I saw him 100% in the SF against the Djoker.
Anyway Thiem is an amazing player who has the talent to win RG multiple times but unfortunately he is playing at the same time as the King of Clay.
Doesn’t explain anything to me. I stick to those observing his fatigue. But I know also, that we all (including Pablo) see what we want to see, and so is this. A new interesting exchange, and not about Rafa, is perhaps possible now. – ?
Now you have my explanation proven. Thiem withdraws from Halle because of fatigue.
It’s not the fatigue of having played 7 matches in a tournament. It’s a virus from Tenerifa, coming back because of weather conditions during Djoko match.
I know Thiem’s body language by heart. Rafa too, they play so much each other. I can recall Nadal’s face, looking on Thiem before serving in third set after Thiem gave him the first service game for free. Nadal knew, he would play an ill opponent.
Look for virus infections in Google or Wiki and you will know, what are the symptoms of acute virus infection – first of all fatigue, high pulse, weakness a.s.o.
But starting RG Thiem was fit&healthy. Still fit, but no more healthy after Djoko match.
This is the explanation I was telling about, but you meant, Thiem looked fit in the final. Ypu may not know, but he didn’t and that’s why he lost first set because of not playing full throttle.
Nadal had luck, because if he lost second set with Thiem being ill and running on last drops of fuel, Nadal would lose in straights. Well, not Nadal’s fault but Thiem’s bad luck.
I am a fan of both Roger and Rafa. As another commenter noted, it is unfortunate that we cannot celebrate the enduring greatness and virtuosity of each man — we will never see their like again (this is true of Djokovic as well) — without feeling the need to tear down one’s accomplishments to protect the “legacy” of the other. It is clear that Federer and Nadal have a deep and abiding respect for each other, both as competitors and as human beings, a respect that has been forged over the course of nearly 40 matches at the highest level of tennis, which have given us some of the most indelible, breathtaking and heartbreaking (in the context of an athletic contest) moments in the history of the sport. It seems a small ask that their respective fans — screeching angrily about GOATS and comparative statistics from the comfort of their couches — be able to exhibit a small percentage of the same kind of grace and class.
What Federer achieved at this FO, at his age and having not played on clay for a number of years, was remarkable. The quality of play in the semi with Nadal (especially in the first two sets) — despite the absurd weather conditions — was, at times, astonishing. It took the kind of sorcery only Nadal can produce on clay to keep Roger from winning at least one of those sets., and perhaps turning that match into a 5-set classic. Federer is likely one of the 5 or so best clay court players in history; it has been his misfortune to face an unbeatable superhuman in the form of Nadal over the past decade and a half, otherwise he’d be approaching 25 major titles.
As for Rafa, I don’t think we can overstate how unimaginable it is that one man has managed to win — in dominant fashion year after year — a major tournament twelve times, with no end in sight. 93-2? That can’t be real. 24-0 in semis and finals? Words fail. 118-2 in five set clay court matches overall? Ludicrous. These are marks that will never be approached. Appreciate what we are seeing, because it will not happen again. It is one of the greatest achievements in the history of any sport.
Let’s be thankful that we have been able to witness these once-in-a-lifetime athletes, who have not only elevated their sport with their inimitable talent and heart, but also with their sportsmanship, humility and friendship.
A gentle reminder….this is a Roger Federer blog. At least you babbling boys moved your arguments to this post. Are you guys going to stop soon?
I was aware, this is no more active post. If no, I would not continue. I did expect, the only one who maybe reads this post, will be just Pablo. I know, what is this blog about. This was some special case and also some of you (Rui, Vik, some others) were commenting the RG final before I have posted anything about this).
Take my apologies (even if you are not targeted by my comments).
Can I do something more for you (other then disappear forever)?
How does the blog work accorging to you Sue? If you talk about the RG final and Nadal in a negative way there is no problem with the topic but if you praise it “this is a Roger Federer blog? Am I correct?
Yes 😆
We still read. Hoping for some humor and more relating Federer.